


All Will Be Well

by Weddersins



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Dreams, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Light Angst, Post TROS, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey makes a good pillow, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 20:56:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21185867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weddersins/pseuds/Weddersins
Summary: In response to this prompt from Reylo Prompts account on Twitter: Post TROS, Rey finally forces Ben to sleep. He can only sleep while cuddled in her arms, because he’s never slept without night terrors or without Snoke whispering things to him





	All Will Be Well

It’s been forty-seven hours since the last of the guns were laid down. Forty-seven hours since the last star destroyer had fired it’s last ion cannon. Forty-seven hours since the last holdover from one of the darkest periods in galactic memory was eradicated. 

They’d done it - they’d managed to _ win_. 

Perhaps - at least for a little while - peace would reign. Rey thought it was a nice hope, if perhaps a bit naive. 

But right now, war and peace and all the consequences of both seemed a distant problem. Rey chewed her thumbnail and resettled on her perch atop a storage crate. Around her, the Falcon thrummed as it continued it’s trek across the stars, a comforting bone-deep rumble. She was strung out and exhausted, wanting nothing more than to curl into a ball inside the nearby bunk and _ sleep_. 

But instead, she watched as Ben wore down the floor-tiles with his endless pacing. He’d wandered back into the cargo hold once the ship had entered hyperspace, and Rey had innocently assumed he’d actually try to sleep. But instead, it had been at least an hour of these fruitless steps. His big boots drug against the steel, shuffling him ungracefully from bulkhead to bulkhead like a mournful ghost.

Their Bond was a smooth, dark space in the back of her mind, their link closed and quiet. She didn’t know how long it had been like this, and any attempts at opening it proved unsuccessful. It unnerved Rey in a way she hadn’t expected - to see Ben agitated and pacing and to have no immediate idea as to _ why_. 

So she had simply sat with him, keeping a vigil over his restless steps and worrying the problem around in her mind. Rey had to admit he looked horrible. Even after a trip through the ‘fresher planetside, his dark hair was lank. His face so pale that the angry scar bisecting his cheek looked like a fresh wound instead of one a year healed. His aquiline nose was still darkly bruised, and circles of the same hue ringed his eyes. Rey saw how his legs shook, how his hands trembled as he carded them through his hair or jammed them under his arms. Reaching the end of the cramped space once more, Ben stumbled for a moment before turning around to resume his circuitous path. He showed no sign of slowing. 

She knew for a fact Ben had not slept even for a moment in nearly sixty-eight hours. She’d counted backwards around a day ago, when they’d been goaded into taking a break from the mop-up efforts and Ben had angrily refused. She’d been keeping track ever since. 

Something still burned in him, and for whatever reason he was afraid to put it out. 

Rey shifted again on the crate, stretched her own set of shaking limbs and cleared her throat. She had to do _ something_. 

Ben ceased his pacing and swung himself to look at her, the abrupt movement nearly sending him to the ground. He stood on unsteady legs and _ glared _ at her, bloodshot eyes full of an emotion she couldn’t identify.

Rey, undeterred, glared back. 

“_What _.” Ben’s voice was a raspy growl, still burnt out and broken from… 

Rey suppressed a shudder at the memory of his screams, of the blue lightning swirling under his skin. She pushed it away as quickly as she could, hoping Ben didn’t notice her wince. 

He had. A flicker of regret darkened his eyes and he shuffled his feet against the steel decking. “Go to sleep,” he grumbled, averting his gaze. “I can see you’re… tired.”

Rey wondered how she looked, compared to Ben. At least she’s managed to squeeze a nap in a few hours back, crammed into a space between two empty crates and covered in a tatty blanket in the makeshift Resistance camp. It had felt safe - like an animal’s burrow, a bolt-hole. She’d needed that, after… _ after. _

Ben had been staring out of the tent-flap as she fell asleep, waving off her demands that he also rest. When she awoke a handful of hours later it appeared he hadn’t so much as twitched, a stone sentinel standing watch over her slumber.

In the pit of her stomach, Rey knew sleep would have been impossible if Ben hadn’t lurked nearby. Though the soft animal part of her had wanted him _ there _ , curled beside her, simply knowing he was a heartbeat away was _ necessary._

Perhaps Ben simply needed to be given permission to let his guard down. 

“I am tired,” Rey said simply, watching as Ben snapped his gaze back to her. Resignation wavered there, now - but purpose was hung there, too, and she could see Ben steel himself for another watch. Something he could _ do._

“I am tired,” she began again, sliding down from the crate with a soft thud. “But I’m not going to sleep. _ You _are.” 

Ben’s brow knitted, anger quirking his lips faster than he was able to stuff it away. “I’m fine,” he growled, backing away from Rey’s advance. “Don’t -”

“Don’t what, Ben? Worry about you?” 

“I’m fine.” he reiterated, taking another step backward and barking his calves against a long, low crate. He lost his balance, slumping to a seat on the offending box as Rey quickened her steps to stand before him.

“Ben... you look like you died and just haven’t had the good grace to lie down and accept it.”

“Charming, thank you. You’re so reassuring, Rey, has anyone ever told you that before?”

“Knock it off, Ben. You need to sleep.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“What a kriffing stupid thing to say, of course I’m going to worry about you -”

“I’m fine.”

“- I’ve been worried about you for the last year, you think I’m just going to stop worrying about you _ now _?”

“Rey -”

“Ben, I saw - watched…” Rey choked on her words, fluttering her hands uselessly at her side as exactly what she saw refused to be vocalized.

They both knew, anyway. Ben’s gaze softened as he shook his head. “I saw… I saw you, too.” He tilted his chin up, burning a hole through her with the strength of his glare. “I’m not tired.”

“Bullshit,” Rey said softly. She was close enough to touch him, to run her hands through his hair and trace his jawline. The temptation to do so was nearly overwhelming, but Rey stilled her restless hands before they could realize her desires. 

Ben gazed up at her steadily, dark eyes burning like coals in the smudged bruise that his face had become. Rey met him with resolve, searching the depths of his expression for some clue as to _ why._

When she finally recognized the dread lurking in his stare it was enough to choke her.

“What are you so afraid of, Ben Solo?” her question was spoken softly, as if directed at a wounded animal. Rey gave into temptation and raised one unsteady hand to brush away a strand of inky hair from his temple. Ben exhaled, leaning into her touch and closing his eyes. Rey let her fingers wander. They traced the shell of his ear, skimmed down his jawline. It was easy to feel the tension held there. 

Rey nudged her knee between his legs, giving Ben a _ look _ until he complied and widened them just enough for her to stand between them. It felt awkward, and she was reminded how strange it was that they were free to _ touch _ and be _ touched _ after so long, so much. 

They’d fought so hard to be here. 

And she would be damned if they slid backwards now. Rey cautiously pulled Ben’s head to her chest, tangled her fingers in his dark hair. _ Too far? Too much? _

After a moment Ben’s arms circled her waist, tugging her closer. _ Just right. _Rey gently scratched his scalp with her blunt nails and worried. 

Moments passed and Ben stilled, his breathing falling into an even in-out. The noise of the Falcon fell away, and all Rey could hear was her heartbeat and his exhalations. 

She could feel the smooth spot where their link lay dormant ripple and shift, a tiny red thread appearing in its place. It was impossible to tell if this were a conscious action on Ben’s part, or a result of simply allowing himself to _ breathe _for a moment. Rey couldn't resist giving it a gentle tug - just to see if it would open for her. 

She realized the full force of her mistake less than a second later. Ben yelped and reared his head back in surprise. Rey was smacked with the full force of everything he’d been hiding from her, a riot of new emotion in her already clouded state. 

Rey was drowning in his fear and panic, his restless anxiety causing her own feet to shuffle against the deck, uneasy and needing to move. Her fingers reflexively tightened in Ben’s hair, a gasp she couldn’t quite contain coloring the air. The empty, aching fear of silence, of being truly _ alone _ clawed at her throat; worse yet was the feeling that the silence was a _ lie _ and there would be something lurking in the dark, as it always had been. 

It was suffocating. 

Rey could feel Ben trying to close their link, a sense of remorse trickling through to pool at her feet. She fought to keep it open, staring down at him until he acquiesced with a reluctant nod. Ben buried his face against her chest, hiding from view even though his emotions were bare to her. 

His shame, his fear. 

They stood in silence for a moment, Rey’s fingers continuing to smooth through Ben’s hair. He was frozen, his arms still wound around her middle and his breathing tight and controlled. 

“It’s the silence,” he said at length, so quiet Rey could barely hear him. “I’ve had their voices in my head for so long. They have always been there, hanging on the edge of sleep. I can’t… if I… what if I _ still _ hear them, after _ all this _…”

Ben swallowed hard, and Rey dropped a hand to squeeze his shoulder. “But what’s worse,” he ground out, “what’s worse? if they aren’t gone, or if those voices were _ mine _ all along?” 

Ben trailed off, words dropping away into the stillness of the hold. 

"When was the last time you slept?" Rey asked, softly.

Ben's lack of response was all the answer she needed. Rey felt the corners of her eyes sting, and she searched fruitlessly for the right words. 

In the end, all she said was his name. 

He looked up, and Rey felt her stomach quail at the pain writ large across his features. He still looked _ hunted _. 

Words failed, but actions spoke. Rey tugged gently on his shoulder, stepping backwards with the implicit instruction that he should follow. 

The fight left Ben’s eyes, and he allowed himself to be lead. Rey shuffled him slowly across the hold, into the small hallway, and into the tiny cabin where a small bed with rumpled sheets was waiting. 

She flipped the lights down, letting the only illumination be the running lights and the faint flicker of the dim lamp above the bunk. Ben stumbled against the wall, and Rey wordlessly tucked herself under his shoulder, arm wound around his waist to guide him the few final steps across the room. 

She pushed him gently onto the bed, and he lowered himself without complaint. As grateful as Rey was that he was listening, _ finally, _the sight of Ben so broken was not easy to stomach. 

She kicked off her boots, unwound her belt and the arm wraps she still wore out of some deeply ingrained habit. Ben watched her with a baleful gaze, making no motion to similarly disrobe. 

Her useless fumbling at the latches of his boots finally prompted Ben to remove them on his own. His movements were stiff and wooden, betraying the aches and pains they had acquired in the last few days. Rey suspected that if he weren’t already sitting, he would have fallen to the ground. They had clawed their way out of hell, and Ben was too scared to let it go. 

She’d have to convince him. 

Rey crawled onto the bunk, realizing it was too small to fit the both of them side by side comfortably. Instead, she tucked herself into the far corner, folding the pillow behind her back for comfort as she sat. 

Thankfully, it was a small bed. Reaching over to tug Ben down to her lap was not even a stretch. 

Rey settled him against her, curling herself around his bulk as much as possible. She arranged the blanket over his shoulder and once more wove her fingers through his dark hair. Her free hand rested against his side, toying at the quilting of his vest. 

Ben had allowed himself to be laid down without argument, but the lines of his body were still stiff, tension etched in the furrows of his brow. He stared blankly into the darkness of the cabin, refusing to close his eyes or look at Rey. 

“Go to sleep, Ben,” Rey whispered, her fingers continuing to trace small circles on his side. “All will be well.”

Moments passed before Ben’s broken reply, so soft that Rey almost missed it. 

“And if it’s not?” 

Rey closed her eyes, allowed the tears that had waited in their corners to spill down. He couldn’t see them - he wasn’t looking. If she held herself just _ so _, maybe he wouldn’t feel the shaking of her chest. 

“It will be well,” she said fiercely, “or we will _ make it well.”_

Something simmered in the corner of her mind, an errant thought wiggling through the bond. _ I won’t drag you back through hell with me. _

Rey pushed back, gently, unwilling to argue but equally unwilling to back down. _ I am here. I am with you. And I will never leave. _

“Go to sleep,” she said out loud, stroking his hair and tracing the shell of his ear. 

The Falcon continued the rumble around them, a consistent low growl lulling them gently to sleep. 

Rey wasn’t sure how long they had sat there, still and quiet. Hours could have passed before Ben’s shoulders slacked, the tension in his ribcage giving way. She wasn’t sure how long she herself had slept, fingers still tangled in inky black hair, until she was awoken with a jolt as Ben’s heavy head left her lap. 

She was still muzzy from sleep as his large hands cupped her face, soft mouth pressed against hers. It was easy to let him in, to deepen the kiss and draw in closer to him. It was natural, like the state of their bodies at rest were simply a part of one another. 

“Was it well?” she murmured against his lips. 

“It was well.” he whispered back, sliding his hands from her jaw to cradle the back of her neck. “It was well.”

Rey’s senses swirled with _ Ben _ \- his hands, his mouth, his presence in her mind. Fear still lingered there, but a current of peace flowed through him and spilled over into her. He pressed against her, gently, and she allowed herself to fall back on the mattress, to be trapped beneath his body as her hands roved his back, his sides, his chest. 

It was still a long road. But Rey was certain that neither of them would walk it alone. 

Over and over, her heartbeat and his echoed the same word, again and again to infinity -

_ home, home, home. _

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/weddersins).


End file.
